Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
  • Register
  • Login
  • Language
    • English
    • Język Polski
  • Menu
  • Home
  • Current
  • Archives
  • Online First Articles
  • About
    • About the Journal
    • Submissions
    • Editorial Team
    • Advisory Board
    • Peer Review Process
    • Logic and Logical Philosophy Committee
    • Open Access Policy
    • Privacy Statement
    • Contact
  • Register
  • Login
  • Language:
  • English
  • Język Polski

Logic and Logical Philosophy

Unbound riches: Comparative adjectives and the argument from binding
  • Home
  • /
  • Unbound riches: Comparative adjectives and the argument from binding
  1. Home /
  2. Archives /
  3. No. 11-12 (2003) /
  4. Articles

Unbound riches: Comparative adjectives and the argument from binding

Authors

  • Stefano Predelli University of Nottingham

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12775/LLP.2003.017

Abstract

Uncontroversially, the semantic interpretation of comparative adjectives such as rich or small depends, among other factors, on a contextually salient comparison standard. Two alternative theories have been proposed in order to account for such contextual dependence: an indexicalist view, according to which comparative adjectives are indexical expressions, and a hidden variable approach, which insists that a comparison standard is contributed as the semantic value of a variable occurring at the level of semantic representation. In this paper, I defend the indexicalist view against an influential argument favoring the hidden variable approach, the so-called argument from binding. I argue that independent evidence favors an understanding of comparison standards as functions, and that on such a conception of comparison standards the evidence put forth by the argument from binding is naturally accountable within an indexicalist treatment.

Author Biography

Stefano Predelli, University of Nottingham

Department of Philosophy

References

Bach, Kent, 1994. ‘Conversational Impliciture’, Mind and Language 9: 124-162.

Cresswell, M. J., 1976. ‘The Semantics of Degree‘, in: B. Partee (ed.), Montague Grammar, Academic Press.

Heim, Irene and Angelika Kratzer, 1998. Semantics in Generative Grammar, Blackwell, Oxford.

Kaplan, D., 1977. ‘Demonstratives’, in: J. Almog, J. Perry, and H. Wettstein (eds.), Themes From Kaplan, Oxford University Press.

Ludlow, Peter, 1989. ‘Implicit Comparison Classes’, Linguistics and Philosophy 12: 519-533.

Parsons, Terence, 1972. Some Problems Concerning the Logic of Grammatical Modifiers, in: Donald Davidson and Gilbert Harman (eds.), Semantics of Natural Language, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht.

Stanley, Jason, 2000. ‘Context and Logical Form’, Linguistics and Philosophy 23: 391-434.

Stanley, Jason, 2002a. ‘Making It Articulated’, Mind and Language 17: 149-168.

Stanley, Jason, 2002b. ‘Nominal Restriction’, in: Peters and Preyer (eds.), Logical Form and Language, Oxford University Press.

Logic and Logical Philosophy

Downloads

  • PDF

Published

2003-11-23

How to Cite

1.
PREDELLI, Stefano. Unbound riches: Comparative adjectives and the argument from binding. Logic and Logical Philosophy. Online. 23 November 2003. No. 11-12, pp. 341-348. [Accessed 3 July 2025]. DOI 10.12775/LLP.2003.017.
  • ISO 690
  • ACM
  • ACS
  • APA
  • ABNT
  • Chicago
  • Harvard
  • IEEE
  • MLA
  • Turabian
  • Vancouver
Download Citation
  • Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
  • BibTeX

Issue

No. 11-12 (2003)

Section

Articles

Stats

Number of views and downloads: 466
Number of citations: 0

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Search

Search

Browse

  • Browse Author Index
  • Issue archive

User

User

Current Issue

  • Atom logo
  • RSS2 logo
  • RSS1 logo

Information

  • For Readers
  • For Authors
  • For Librarians

Newsletter

Subscribe Unsubscribe

Language

  • English
  • Język Polski
Up

Akademicka Platforma Czasopism

Najlepsze czasopisma naukowe i akademickie w jednym miejscu

apcz.umk.pl

Partners

  • Akademia Ignatianum w Krakowie
  • Akademickie Towarzystwo Andragogiczne
  • Fundacja Copernicus na rzecz Rozwoju Badań Naukowych
  • Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk
  • Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN
  • Instytut Tomistyczny
  • Karmelitański Instytut Duchowości w Krakowie
  • Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego
  • Państwowa Akademia Nauk Stosowanych w Krośnie
  • Państwowa Akademia Nauk Stosowanych we Włocławku
  • Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa im. Stanisława Pigonia w Krośnie
  • Polska Fundacja Przemysłu Kosmicznego
  • Polskie Towarzystwo Ekonomiczne
  • Polskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze
  • Towarzystwo Miłośników Torunia
  • Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu
  • Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
  • Uniwersytet Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie
  • Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika
  • Uniwersytet w Białymstoku
  • Uniwersytet Warszawski
  • Wojewódzka Biblioteka Publiczna - Książnica Kopernikańska
  • Wyższe Seminarium Duchowne w Pelplinie / Wydawnictwo Diecezjalne „Bernardinum" w Pelplinie

© 2021- Nicolaus Copernicus University Accessibility statement Shop